


Tick Tock

by Ulrica



Category: Original Work
Genre: F/F, Gen, Platonic Romance, Reincarnation, Soulmates, Tragic Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-08
Updated: 2018-06-08
Packaged: 2019-05-19 19:06:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14879486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ulrica/pseuds/Ulrica
Summary: And that was the first time I met my soulmate.





	Tick Tock

I still remember the first one, I didn’t knew where was I going nor where was I to be found; it was exactly like an effortless conversation with oneself, one of those you have every other day at the most inconvenient of moments, that time it was in an airport and I just wanted to get on the plain as soon as possible. 

He was standing right there, in front of me, talking loudly on the phone to some unknown, but from the tone of his voice and what he was saying, stupid person. Someone from work, probably, a partner who didn’t made what he was supposed to do right, or maybe he did, but this guy, in black jeans and navy shirt, was just a perfectionist. 

He looked laid back, but maybe he wasn’t. Maybe it wasn’t a partner from work he was talking to, maybe the person on the other end of the line was his wife, and she was asking him: “when are you coming home? Is the meeting done? Don’t you miss our children? You’ve been away for months”. But he wasn’t coming home anytime soon, and his secretary was waiting for him at a hotel someplace. 

Maybe it was his husband who he was yelling to at the phone. He looked kind of done with the conversation, he could be an asshole, expecting everyone to live up to his demands and always getting everything he wanted. And his husband didn’t know him anymore, that wasn’t the person he got married to, but it was; he just hadn’t met him until now. 

That guy in black jeans, screaming at the phone, what if he was a serial killer and his partner in crime had just fucked it up for the both of them: “they found out about the body! You need to run, change your name, use the plan we made just in case! Do you have the money? Do you remember the address? You need to burn everything; I’m on my way to get rid of the girl”. 

"Jared! There you are, I was waiting for you at the café, they ran out of blueberry muffins, but I got you a blueberry cookie."

"Thanks, darling. I’m sorry; it’s just that Kevin forgot to cancel my meeting for this afternoon. I think I just lost another client."

"Again? Gosh, he does that every time."

"I know, I’m going to fire him as soon as I get back to Belgium; I’m done giving him “one more chance”."

Oh, so he wasn’t an overachieving perfectionist, a cheating husband, a borderline abusive husband or a murderer. He was just a normal, business man with a very bad assistant. And a liking for blueberry pastries. I like blueberry too, but I like strawberries better. 

They called my flight and so I went to the plain. It was a comfortable seat, the noise was relaxing and the voices were an interesting set of flavors. Like the girl sitting right in front of me; with her long red hair and pleasant perfume. She was reading something, with a red cover and old pages, such a pretty book and such a pretty lady. 

He was there too, the guy in black jeans and navy shirt, Jared. He was taller now, or was it that I had finally decided to look at him as he is and not as I want him to be like. He had brown eyes, like those of a forest; what a stupid metaphor. The lady from before was with him too, she was pretty like the girls you had a crush on at high school, or the girl at work who is far too pretty for you to approach her, because that’s how social conventions work. 

They made an interesting pair, almost mundane in their existence; talking in hushed tones and drinking coffee like connoisseurs, almost too extravagant for first class but normal enough. The perfume of the lady, expensive and addicting, distracted me from what she had said. Oh, she was talking to me. 

"Excuse me? I’m sorry, I was daydreaming."

"Oh, don’t worry, dear. I just said your dress is lovely."

"Oh, thank you!." I wasn’t expecting that, what a nice thing to say. 

"Well, dear, have a nice flight."

"You too." And I smiled the whole flight, five long, comfortable hours. 

Once In Belgium, I thought about going shopping, just going around wasting money on things that were worth it; like candles with weird scents, shirts with puns on them, bright shoes and delicious pastries. 

And there they were, Jared and the pretty lady of pleasant smell. They seemed happy, smiling and laughing, talking about this and that, things only couples like them know about. But maybe they weren’t a couple, no, they were best friends. They met at high school but didn’t like each other at first, he was one of the cool kids, she was as well but not the same circle of friends. One day, at a party, they were just watching the madness, their friends busy dancing and drinking, so naturally they started talking. She was nice, he thought, not as obnoxious as he first imagined. “You aren’t so bad”, she said and he laughed. 

"But Gloria, that’s not legal."

"That’s what makes it so interesting."

Her name suited her in an unexpected way. She was kind of glorious after all, dashing in a dark way. The people passing in front of them must have noticed too; they kept glancing at them, was it the topic of conversation or the strangeness in the air surrounding them? Who knows, people are weird like that. 

The clock on the wall of the bakery was bright blue, loud and impressive. Ticking its way trough the afternoon. And in the corner, far away from the noise and the voices, was an old, wrinkly man. Wearing the cleanest suit, with impeccable manners and the poise of a king. He was eating cheesecake with blueberries on the top. His voice, soothing and quiet, talking to a ghost who in live he met right there, in that corner. 

She was wearing a yellow sundress the first time he saw her. She was bold, loud and so confident; she asked him out the second time he saw her, on the third date she kissed him and he proposed one year later. They had four kids, three girls and one boy, they were all loud just like her, so bright and so them. The older, Alice, visited him every week, she was a lawyer and had two kids of her own, took them with her almost every time; they called him papa and brought him the most beautiful of drawings. Alexandria loved the world and everything it entailed, she was more often than not outside of the country, last year she took him to Uganda and now they were planning on going to Mexico on January, she was in Thailand at the moment, she had wanted him to come as well but he needed a little time to remember home once again. Alejandro and Amanda visited him every Friday, they watched movies together while talking about life and what it entailed, Amanda bringing with her the latest book she found in the corner of that one library, Alejandro bringing with him the weirdest movie he could find in some garage sale. 

He was an observer sometimes, the protagonist when he wanted to. That old man, right there, was everything we once lost and gained; our future, past and present. Hearing the clock ticking by, while everything around him just kept moving, without her, without his memories sometimes as well. 

At last, the couple not couple got up from their table, pastries finished and coffee mugs empty, Jared asked Gloria something, she frowned in though and then smiled at him; not one word came out of her lips. 

"It was fun imagining you, mister stranger, have a good life." I told Jared right before I left. The blue clock had just marked five in the afternoon; the day was sunny and, by the look of it, was going to be one of those beautiful, tranquil, days perfect for doing nothing. Jared smiled, Gloria stared. 

And that was the first time I met my soulmate, Gloria in that life, so right before I died, I finally understood what that old, wrinkly man had felt back at the café. I don’t even remember my own name from that one, I think it was Esmeralda or something pretty like that.


End file.
